Tough news for a Boston Bruins team dealing with a tough start: Brad Marchand has a concussion.

That’s the word from head coach Claude Julien, so it’s a sure thing.

Now, there was no word about how severe the issue may be, but it’s officially a concussion. It’s not the ideal scenario even if it’s a “minor concussion,” which feels like a contradictory idea in itself.

Here’s the Dale Weise hit from last night’s eventual 4-2 win by the Montreal Canadiens:

It sounds like the Boston Bruins were taking notes when they watched mobile defensemen Duncan Keith and Victor Hedman square off in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.

GM Don Sweeney isn’t asking his group to impersonate Bobby Orr next season, but it sounds like he’s asking for a more active approach, as the Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa reports in this interesting piece.

Most obviously, he wants defensemen to skate a bit more with the puck in transition, easing things on the Bruins’ forwards.

“I think they have to,” Sweeney said. “At times, we probably got a little bit too stationary on our breakouts. We need to be in motion a little bit. That means our forwards will be in motion a little bit, because teams were able to smother the walls, pinch, and pre-pinch.”

Shinzawa provides a few additional sensory details about how such a modified scheme might work, at least ideally:

The tweaks are meant to shift the danger level away from the net. Defensemen will be more active, perhaps up the ice and closer to the walls. Forwards will not have to retreat as far to funnel pucks into favorable real estate. There will be greater challenges to zone entries, similar to how MBTA police close down on fare evaders. The goal, as Sweeney likes to say, is to create anxiety for opponents up the ice.

Let’s be honest, though: it’s reasonable to wonder if the Bruins really boast the personnel to make such a modernization work.

(This idea also turns the knife in a little deeper when it comes to losing Dougie Hamilton.)

Looking at the structure of this team, is it better to try to keep up with the Joneses or merely try to do what you do best? After all, there’s always the possibility that Claude Julien, Zdeno Chara and David Krejci will see better days after a bumpy season (which featured serious injury issues for Chara and Krejci).

Striving for a more modern approach is understandable, but sometimes sports teams lose their identity and gain little in return by trying to dance to the beat of someone else’s drum.

Either way, it’s an intriguing development to ponder in 2015-16. The full article is well worth a read, by the way.

“I thought we had a lot of chances today to score more goals and win the game,” said Boston’s lone goal scorer Loui Eriksson per NHL.com. “But, yeah, we need to find ways to score those goals too. We create a lot of chances, but when we get that chance we have to really focus to put it in too. That cost us the game. I thought we were the much better team today, and we just need to get better on that.”

Rasmus Ristolainen had the Sabres’ lone goal in regulation.

Boston leads Ottawa by four points for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and trails the Detroit Red Wings by four points for third spot in the Atlantic Division.

Tuukka Rask was a scratch due to “general soreness”. Claude Julien did not have an update on the goaltender post-game.

Niklas Svedberg made 23 saves in the loss.

The single point the Bruins picked up in the loss officially eliminated the Maple Leafs from playoff contention.

NBCSN will continue its coverage of the 2014-15 campaign when the Boston Bruins host the Detroit Red Wings at 7:00 p.m. ET tonight. In addition to NBCSN, you can also watch the game online.

The Detroit Red Wings visit the Boston Bruins for the third of five meetings this season tonight at the TD Garden.

Each team has won a game at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena with Wings taking a 2-1 decision Oct. 9 and the Bruins using a shootout for a 3-2 win Oct. 15.

After halting a six-game winless skid (0-4-2) Detroit will look for its’ third straight win tonight while the Bruins will look to get back into the win column Monday following a 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday.

Just as it appeared the Bruins were getting healthy, both Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic missed Sunday’s practice. Coach Claude Julien is expected to have an update on both players at Monday’s morning skate.

Detroit is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games against the Bruins and have won three of four in Boston.

Gustav Nyquist enters tonight’s game with a goal and three assists in his last two games.

The 25-year-old has scored in each of his four career games against the Bruins leading the Wings to a 3-0-1 record.

Boston is struggling defensively during its’ current 4-6-2 stretch. The Bruins are allowing an average of 3.1 goals compared to 2.4 over the first 24 games.

Just like the team in front of him, Tuukka Rask has struggled this season. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner is 3-4-2 in his last 10 games with a 3.10 goals-against average. Rask allowed three goals on 15 shots after replacing Niklas Svedberg in Saturday’s loss.

The two clubs meet twice after tonight with the next meeting scheduled for March 8 in Boston.